Royal Commission report reinforces argument for free nursing care
Long term care (LTC) advisers have questioned the feasibility of the proposals put forth in the Royal Commission's unprec- edented second report, which reinforces the argument for free nursing and personal care throughout the UK.
The report, which follows the Royal Commissioners' initial report in 1999, describes the needs and pressures that still exist in the LTC market and recommends further action should be taken by the Govern- ment to address these issues.
"There are still widespread concerns about the state of long term care and its funding. By far the most important are the huge ethical, conceptual and practical difficulties in distinguishing bet- ween the nursing and personal care," the report said.
It praises the Scottish Executive for implementing the suggest- ions laid out in the initial report - free nursing and personal care at the point of delivery - and calls upon England, Wales and Northern Ireland to follow suit. Demands are also made for the four countries to reconsider the Commission's proposal for a National Care Commission, a body responsible for all aspects relating to LTC provision in the UK.
While the Commission actively supports the changes implemented in Scotland, the industry is less convinced of its success or that it can resolutely solve the problems surrounding LTC.
Owain Wright, head of the Care Funding Bureau, is not convinced the Government will pay heed to the report. "There simply is not enough money to go round to fund nursing care, new hospitals, education and everything else," he said.
One of the main concerns in the industry is that free nursing and personal care will simply lead to higher care home costs. Since being introduced in Scotland, residential care home fee costs have, according to Wright, increased by an average of 40%, and the fear is that the rest of the UK will go the same way.
Philip Spiers, partner at the Nursing Home Fees Agency, said the key concern is controlling costs. "The fear is that we would, as in Scotland, just see higher fees unless the Government were to introduce some stringent pricing controls," he said.
